Working Hunter Ridden InHand and Veteran Qualifier Show
Sunday 23 February 2025
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No matter which horse-riding disciplines you favour, you can learn a lot about technique and form from watching the best jump racing jockeys in action.
And there’s no better place to do that than at the Cheltenham Festival, which in 2025 will run from Tuesday March 11 to Friday March 14. All of the action will be broadcast live on ITV.
From Paul Townend and Rachael Blackmore to Harrys Cobden and Skelton, most of the best jockeys in the UK and Ireland will descend on Prestbury Park to try and land some of National Hunt racing’s biggest and most prestigious prizes.
To pick up some great tips when galloping and jumping in particular, you’ll want to tune in to the Cheltenham Festival across its four days of action.
Some of the most popular horse races on the calendar are contested on day one of the festival, including the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the much-vaunted Champion Hurdle.
These are great races to watch because they are typically run at a tremendous speed – the two hurdle renewals mentioned above are contested over only two miles, so the pace tends to be electric as opposed to a slow gallop.
So keep a close eye on the jockeys, who do a remarkable job of staying in the saddle (for the most part) as their mount flies over the obstacles. In the Champion Hurdle, watch out for Nico de Boinville aboard pre-race favourite Constitution Hill. He has been in the saddle throughout this horse’s magnificent career, which shows the remarkable connection that they share.
There are similarities between show jumping and chasing, so day one of the Cheltenham Festival also offers opportunities to see how the jockeys retain their balance as they take on the larger fences – the Ultima Handicap Chase in particular provides some useful lessons for riders who want to jump.
Wednesday is Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Festival, with one of the UK’s most beloved matriarchs – the Queen Mother – celebrated in the day’s flagship race.
The Champion Chase is exactly as the name suggests: a race that crowns the best two-mile chaser in the business. The list of former winners of this renewal reads like a who’s who of British and Irish horse racing, while the rollcall of jockeys to have prevailed – Townend, Blackmore, Skelton, De Boinville, Ruby Walsh, Richard Johnson and A.P. McCoy to name just a few – confirms that this is a stellar race to win.
Riders of all disciplines can learn a thing or two by watching the Champion Chase, while cross country enthusiasts will delight in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase, which is run over a specialist course with traditional brush fences.
The action switches to the New Course for the final two days of the Cheltenham Festival, which gets underway with St. Patrick’s Day on the Thursday of the meeting.
Townend, the winner of the leading jockey crown at the festival in 2024, will be just one of the Irishmen celebrating if he can land a winner or two on day three – especially if they come in the standout Grade 1 races: the Ryanair Chase and the Stayers’ Hurdle.
With a neat split of three hurdles and four chases, as well as the variance in horse ratings (from novices through to the best long-distance horses around), day three of the Cheltenham Festival is a great watch if you want to pick up hints and tips from jockeys taking on unique styles of racing.
The action comes to a head on day four of the Cheltenham Festival, which is appropriately named Gold Cup Day.
That’s because the Gold Cup, one of the most prominent races in the sport, headlines the action. With a £350,000 payout to the winner, this is a renewal that every owner wants to triumph in, which explains why the best three-mile horses are targeted at the race from early on in the National Hunt season.
Of course, like the other three days of the meeting, there’s seven races to savour in all, including the JCB Triumph Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle. You can even enjoy a glimpse of the best amateur and conditional jockeys, who get a chance to compete in the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle – the 28th, and final, race of the Cheltenham Festival.
So, if you are an aspiring rider in any equine discipline, be sure to watch the action at Cheltenham this March. You might just pick up some handy tips from the jockeys in the saddle…
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